"What kind of pressure is this?!"
The blond manager with the center-part, staring at the man in white seated atop a "throne" made from countless piled-up bodies, widened his eyes.
As one of the Hero Association's upper-level executives, he'd seen plenty. He met S-Class heroes regularly. But even those people—already standing at the peak of humanity—had never made him feel anything like this.
It was as if the one sitting on that mound of people wasn't human at all, but some brutal, god-level monster.
"Anyway, let's get along," the man in white said.
Just as the manager's heart was hammering, the man who had been greeting him from that human throne a second ago appeared at his side the next second, lightly patting the executive's shoulder.
"So fast…"
The manager's pupils trembled. That speed, utterly beyond what human eyes could track, made him think of one S-Class hero—
S-Class Rank 13: Flashy Flash.
"Well? What do you think?" the man in white asked, lowering his voice when the executive still didn't respond.
"O-Of course…" the executive stammered, a few beads of sweat spilling from his forehead as he nodded again and again.
"Then you can give me a ranking now, right?" the man in white said, stretching his shoulders. "I clearly passed the evaluation, didn't I?"
He pointed behind him—at the other applicants he'd beaten into critical condition and stacked together—and then at the wrecked arena itself.
"O-Of course…" The executive swallowed hard and nodded repeatedly.
"Good. Then I'll be going."
"Oh—one more thing. If you run into any interesting Dragon-level monsters, let me know~"
With that, the man in white started toward the arena's main doors.
"Wait…"
Right as he was about to leave, the executive called out to him.
"Hm?" The man in white turned around, brow slightly furrowed. "Is there something else?"
"Uh…" The executive stepped up and placed a cell phone into his hand. "This is my number."
"This is…" The man in white looked down at the phone. The Hero Association executive was surprisingly considerate.
"My phone number's in there," the executive said with a polite smile. "Whether you need to reach me, or we need to find you, it'll be more convenient."
"Alright." The man in white waved back at him.
Then—he threw a punch through the arena wall beside him.
The next instant, with a chain of sonic booms, he shot into the sky.
"Manager…"
Not long after the man in white flew off, a Hero Association staffer approached the executive, holding a sheet of paper.
"This is that hero's written exam."
"Let me see…" The executive took it—then his gaze jolted.
Because the man in white had barely written anything.
Aside from leaving the name "Jovian," out of the fifty-plus questions, he wrote only a single sentence:
"I do whatever I want. Don't bother me for no reason…"
"Another Tatsumaki-type hero…?" the executive muttered, suddenly getting a headache. "Seriously—these powerful heroes have powerful personalities, too."
"So, Manager, do we send some heroes over to give the newcomer a warning?" a staffer asked, eyes sharpening. Making new heroes understand how harsh the Hero Association could be was part of their job.
"Don't do anything unnecessary," the executive said, shaking his head. "Someone who can blow open a top-tier arena built by Metal Knight with one punch isn't on the same level as a bunch of small-fry heroes…"
He was experienced enough to know better than to send anyone to "teach a lesson" to a man who radiated that kind of pressure—someone who was obviously a powerhouse no matter how you looked at him.
"I-I understand…" The staffer nodded nervously, then asked, "Then what rating is appropriate for him?"
"Do you even need to ask? It's obviously S-Class." The executive sighed. "Kids these days—no eye for talent at all. If that monster doesn't qualify for S-Class, who does?"
"Understood. Then we'll place him at S-Class Rank 17. What about his hero name?"
"'Whatever-He-Feels-Like'… No." The executive recalled the man in white, and then the huge letter "F" on his chest. After thinking for a moment, he spoke softly. "Call him Freedom."
TN: Mf has a different name in each universe! :(
"Yes, sir!" The staffer nodded hard.
"Jovian…" The executive clasped his hands behind his back and stared up at the sky.
Truthfully, handing someone an S-Class rating right out of the gate was completely against the rules—but…
First, this was the first time in his life he'd ever felt pressure that terrifying.
And second…
On that man in white, this Hero Association executive saw someone's shadow.
The Association's ultimate trump card. The hero who sat at the very top of all heroes.
S-Class Rank 1: Blast.
Whether it was the build or the outfit, that man looked eerily similar to Blast.
"Anyway… I hope my judgment isn't wrong," the executive murmured.
Meanwhile, after Jovian passed the hero evaluation and immediately became an S-Class hero, the entire hero world was shaken.
"A brand-new S-Class hero?!"
"Freedom…"
"Hah. A title I've never even heard of!"
"Those Hero Association bastards—promoting someone to S-Class without notifying me?!"
"Better not be some lowlife…"
In a broadcast room, the current A-Class Rank 1 hero, Amai Mask, crumpled the newspaper in his hand in fury after receiving the Hero Association's notice.
As a hero ranking judge, he refused to acknowledge anyone who skipped his evaluation and was directly elevated to S-Class.
TN: Thanks again for the stones!
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